Coaxial cable, or coax, generally has an inner conductor, or core, surrounded by an inner insulating layer. The insulating layer, in turn, is surrounded by a woven, or braided, conductive shield, which is typically connected to ground. This cable body also generally includes an outer insulating layer that covers the braided conductor. Because the inner conductor and the braided conductor share a longitudinal axis, they are said to be coaxial. Such coaxial cables are commonly used as transmission lines for radio frequency (RF) signals.
To allow the cable bodies to be electrically connected to other components, the ends of the cable bodies are generally terminated with connectors. There are many different conventional connectors, which vary based on size, fastening mechanism, such as bayonet or threaded, and configuration. Two examples of different connector types are subminiature version A (SMA) and K-type subminiature connectors. There are many other connector types.
In some instances, the cable body may be manufactured at a different location than the connector. If so, the final assembly of the cable body and the connector may be at a location some distance from where the cable body was fabricated. To control manufacturing costs, it is beneficial to prevent shipping defective or nonconforming cable bodies to final assembly by screening the cable bodies before shipment.
Generally, a coax cable body may be tested for electrical performance on a test and measurement instrument, such as a vector network analyzer (VNA). In a conventional setup, a coax cable body is attached to the VNA by first stripping the outer insulating layer from both ends of the cable body, exposing the braided conductor. The stripped end is then inserted into a loose-fitting test connector having a fixed-diameter channel, which is supposed to make electrical contact with the inner conductor and the woven shield. With this conventional configuration, though, the ground contact between the connector and the braided conductor is not reliable because the fitting is loose. For the same reason, the connection between the test connector and the inner conductor is also unreliable. This can lead to erroneous or undependable conclusions about the electrical performance of the coax cable body.
Embodiments of the disclosed subject matter address these and other issues in the prior art.